Table@Home: An ad hoc Thanksgiving

Family Style

The door is open, we say. Paul and I agree upon this Thanksgiving call to friends and relatives. Everyone is welcome, we tell them in phone calls and e-mails. Please, come.

And they do come. Sometimes just a few people fill our little house. Once, we put up every table and chair we could find. The long table was a patchwork quilt of shapes and sizes. We sat Elliot on an old wooden barrel pulled up from the basement. More than a few others were squeezed into odd spaces, between one table and the next. Still, we couldn’t fit everyone and five sat up against the kitchen counter. It was loud and fun.

Another year our group was so small that no table leaves were necessary. Unoccupied chairs stood in the corner. Of course I love to have a big group, but that year was sweet and tender. We talked quietly, didn’t make a huge spread, and went for a long walk after dinner.

Everyone in my house loves Thanksgiving for their own reasons. Paul loves to pull out his turkey smoker and fuss over the bird until it’s cooked just so with beautiful, deep golden brown skin. I hand cold beers over the deck while he pushes charcoal around, adds dripping pans but mostly just watches his turkey. Lucy and Zoe both revel in the company, pacing and waiting impatiently for cousins, grandparents and friends to arrive.

For Elliot Thanksgiving comes down to one thing: pie — and not just any kind of pie. He waits all year for a big piece of apple pie. Elliot won’t mess around with the pureness of his apple pie love. His dessert plate contains pie. Just apple pie. No pumpkin, no spice cake. He holds his hand up to prevent scoops of ice cream, whipped cream or anything that would clutter the pure, natural perfection of apples, sugar and cinnamon from landing on his piece. I love this about my son.

If I had to choose one thing in particular that I love about the holiday — something aside from the family, the tradition and the general atmosphere of merriment — I would say that I love the way we cook on Thanksgiving. It’s my kind of cooking. I don’t like fussy recipes — or food, really. I like recipes that can stand a pinch of cayenne, and extra spoonful (or two) of cinnamon or less thyme if that’s what you feel like. A dish like stuffing. With stuffing, it’s good with cornbread or sourdough. Fresh sage is nice but so is rosemary. Feel like throwing an extra egg in there? Do it. And it will still be savory and delicious.

Last year, Lucy made the pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving eve while I cut vegetables and sipped wine. She stirred the eggs, pumpkin and cream.

“How much cinnamon should I put in?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I told her. “A lot.”

She stopped and looked up, not believing me.

“Just put in a few spoonfuls. Then taste it. Then add a few more.”

For this she did not hesitate, and dug in with a spoon. She tasted. Stirred, added more, then tasted again.

“There it is,” she announced. “It’s perfect.”

And it was. The cinnamon in her pumpkin pie was good and strong, but not too much. We cook up soup and carrots and gravy the same way. We slice it, and stir it and taste it. Then add a bit more salt or cumin or garlic. We stir it again, until it tastes good. Yes, it’s unfussiness at its best.

Our Thanksgiving day is mostly a slow, lazy one. Kids are encouraged to go outside. We eat olives and cheese and nuts and linger over glasses of wine. We always put out plates of treats like these tiny scones. The beauty of these scones? You can make them your own. Switch the rosemary to thyme. Add extra black pepper. Leave the sugar topping off (but why would you want to?).

My favorite cheese to use for these scones is R & G Cheese’s Feta. It’s a semi-hard, crumbly goat cheese that pairs well with the walnuts and rosemary. It’s easily found at many area farmers markets.

Oh, and that’s another one of my favorite things at Thanksgiving: the farmers market. Be sure to find one of our local indoor markets the week before Thanksgiving. The market bustles with people and their stuffed-full market bags. You will find all the vegetables, eggs and cheese needed for your holiday. With this trip to the very fruitful Thanksgiving market, there is yet another thing to add to the list of our favorites.

Feta, Walnut and Olive Oil Scones

Makes 16 small scones

This recipe can be easily adapted to your tastes. Switch out the walnuts for olives. Crumbly goat cheese can be substituted for feta. Rosemary or thyme can be added to the dough and anise seeds crushed and stirred into the sugar and salt mixture.

Heat the oven to 400°. In a large glass bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Use your fingers to blend the butter pieces into the flour mixture. Chop the walnuts and feta until they are well combined (or use a food processor). Stir in the oil and cream. Pour the walnut-oil mixture into the flour and stir. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead a few times. Form into a log and cut into four pieces.

Form each piece into a flat circle 4 inches wide. Place the circles onto an oiled baking sheet, and cut each into 4 triangles. Brush the tops with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle the sugar-rosemary evenly over all and bake for 9 minutes, or until the bottoms are brown and the sugar topping is crisp. Serve as an appetizer.

The dough can be prepared a day ahead. Keep the log wrapped tightly in the refrigerator until ready to bake.